I was reading a youth pastor's blog the other today, and he was talking about the difficulty of ministering in a more affluent community when Jesus speaks of how difficult it is for the "rich" to enter the kingdom of heaven (Mark 10:25). Most of us regardless of our societal status would hesitate to call ourselves rich..."Donald Trump and Bill Gates our rich, I'm just comfortable and providing for my family." I believe most Americans are rich in some way and I do believe it will be difficult for many of us to enter the kingdom of heaven, myself included. Our culture teaches us to show love through the material. The amount of love we have for someone is directly connected with what we can give them. Don't get me wrong, when Gary Chapman listed gift giving as one of the five love languages, I believe he was right. Giving is definitely a way to show love, but giving doesn't have to be material and even if it is it doesn't have to mean spending a a lot of money.
Luke says "but woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. (v.24)" Our dependence on the material wealth of this world has provided with so much comfort that it blinds are need for a Savior. How often instead of praying, do we seek comfort through the material. When you are having a bad day you go to the Dairy Queen and get yourself a medium snickers blizzard (guilty). When you get up for work and you get stuck in traffic and people are cutting you off, but if you just had your Starbucks coffee it would be all better. How about if we are trying to lose weight. We go out and buy all the pills and quick remedies instead of asking God to help us to be disciplined to work out a little every day and for him to give us the strength. These aren't all bad things at all if we have sought out God's purposes first. Have we taken the time to pray about it and to seek his comfort?
I grew up rich. I had a family that loved each other and stayed together through thick and thin. We had enough money to live on and then some. I had more than enough food on my plate every evening. I had clean water to drink and whether I chose to listen to Him or not I had and still have a Savior that provides for my deepest needs. Here is the key, Jesus never showed his love through the material. When he shared his last meal with the disciples, he didn't give them a collector's grail and a little figurine of himself to remember him by. He gave himself. He gave them eternal life (Jn. 6:54). He told them not to hold on to this love and to remember him only for that moment, but to spread his love to the nations (Matt. 28:19). To share the "wealth" and the "riches" that he has given them. As a material culture, we must learn to depend on Christ for our comfort. We have to serve his Kingdom with the eternal reward in mind. It's funny even as we serve in the church or on mission trips, a part of us still seek reward. We want gratitude for our work, even a t-shirt or something to remember the experience.
The truth is Christ is reaching out His every day with the opportunity to experience his love. Each experience has a reward, an eternal one that we will never see in our time on earth. How beautiful will it be to stand before the Father, after confessing all the times we have fell short, as he wraps us in His arms and says "for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me (Matt. 25:35-37)."That's the beauty of the Gospel. One day we will be able to stand before our God and to be fully loved and unashamed before Him. This will be our most worthwhile endeavor and the greatest reward.
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